Brassiere and clasp therefor



Oct. 9, 1956 s. cousms BRASSIERE AND CLASP THEREFOR Filed Nov. 26, 1954 INVENTOR. ,fyona Cousins ATTORNEY BRASSIERE AND CLASP THEREFOR Sydne Cousins, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application November 26, 1954, Serial No. 471,142

Claims. (Cl. 2-42) This invention relates to brassieres; and the general object of the invention is to provide a brassiere of novel construction.

The invention particularly contemplates a brassiere of the type which opens in front and is provided with breastsupporting cups which do not actually meet over the sternum of the wearer, with said cups being normally linked together with a clasp which may occasionally engage the flesh overlying the sternum and is therefore desired to be of such construction that, when it does so engage the flesh, has the comfortable feel of a smooth, flat object. Also the hereindescribed clasp may be made part of cup-reinforcing elements, such as curved wires or plastic rods.

A special object of the invention is to provide a clasp device for a brassiere of the type described above, said device comprising two cooperating members adapted to mate with each other to form, as a unit, a clasp which presents toward the skin of the wearer surfaces in a common plane whereby no irregularities or sharp points are present to cause possible irritation. In short, it is an object of the invention to provide a clasp free of the known irregularities of separable fasteners such as common hooks and eyes, which latter, if employed to link together the cups of the present brassiere would be manifestly likely to irritate the skin on the wearer on occasion.

The present clasp, while equally efiicient as a coupling means and equally as easy to lock and unlock as a fastener of the common hook and eye type, has the form, when in coupled condition, of a relatively thin button having palpably fiat obverse and reverse sides.

Another object is to provide a brassiere adapted to open in front, without the cups thereof meeting over the sternum of the wearer, and which is provided with a clasp device as described above.

A further object is toprovide, for a 'brassiere of the present type, two curved wire or other rod-like boning or reinforcing elements, each adapted to be attached to part or all of the periphery of the cups of the brassiere, and with each of said elements having secured thereto one of the two cooperating members of a clasp device which forms part of this invention.

An additional object is to provide a brassiere adapted to open in front, as described above, and which incorporates boning or reinforcing elements for the cups thereof with the cooperating members of the present clasp device attached to said elements.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following description and from the drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of an exemplary cup-reinforcing element having, as an integral part thereof, one cooperating member of the present clasp device.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of a companion element also having, as an integral part thereof, the other cooperating member of the device.

Fig. 3, also a front elevational view, shows the two tes Patet reinforcing elements as related when the members of the clasp device are engaged.

Figs. 4-9 are enlarged with respect to Figs. 1-3.

Fig. 4 is the section 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is the section 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is the section 6-6 of Fig. .3.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the elements and members in process of being engaged or disengaged, and is taken according to the index 66 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a rear elevational view of the clasp member of Fig. 3, and shows a fragment of its associated cupreinforcing element.

Fig. 9 is a rear elevational view of the clasp member of Fig. 1, and also shows a fragment of its cup-reinforcing element.

Fig. .10 is a perspective view, much reduced, of a brassiere of the type described, showing the clasp device and cup-reinforcing elements, the latter being indicated in dotted lines.

The present invention is a brassiere adapted to open in front, and is provided With breast-supporting cups which do not meet over the sternum of the wearer and with a clasp linking the cups together, the clasp possibly at times being in contact with the flesh of the wearer; and the brassiere may or may not, as desired, include cup-reinforcing elements, as of curved wires or plastic rods. In the embodiment of the invention shown herein the brassiere is provided with cup-reinforcing elements adapted to extend partially around the periphery of the cups adjacent the sternum of the wearer, as shown in Fig. 10. An important feature of the invention is that the clasp, which is subject to contact the body of the wearer between the breasts, is of such construction as to present to the skin a smooth, fiat surface.

in the illustrated embodiment the cup-reinforcing elements are assumed to be of molded plastic, and each element has, as an integral part thereof, one of the co- 7 operating members of the clasp. However, it will be manifest that the cup-reinforcing elements might well be complete loops of plastic rod or of wire, and that the cooperating members of the clasp need not be integral with these elements, and may be attached thereto in any suitable manner, or attached to the fabric of the brassiere cups, and that the material of the cooperating members of the clasp is not critical.

Fig. 1 shows a reinforcing bone 10 which may be assumed to be intended for ribbing a portion of the periphery of the righthand cup of the brassiere adjacent the wearers sternum, while Fig. 2 shows a mirror-image bone 11 assumed to be intended for like use with respect to the lefthand cup. Although both bones are shown separate from the fabric of the brassiere, it will be understood that the margins of the fabric constituting the cups are rolled around the bones and form envelopes therefor in usual manner. Since the bones 1t) and 11 are accordingly obscrued in Fig. 10, wherein the fabric of the cups of the brassiere is shown, the bones are represented by dotted lines. The brassiere is designated B.

Projecting from each bone is a member of the clasp device, and, of course, these members protrude through apertures in the fabric of the cups. The cooperating members of the clasp extend from the convex sides of the bones and oppose each other. A male member, or latch 12, here assumed to be integral with bone 10, extends therefrom; and the latch 12 comprises a somewhat elongated head 13 in the form of a block which is connected to the body of the bone 10 by a neck portion M. A female member, assumed to be integral with bone 11 extends therefrom for cooperation with latch 12, and the female member, in its entirety, is designated 15. In the illustrated embodiment member 15 is a somewhat lozengeshaped protuberance having parallel front and rear surfaces, as best shown in Fig. 5, and is connected to the body of the bone 11 by a neck portion 16. Essentially member 15 is an eyelet, for it is provided with a fenestration at 17. The latch 12, as may be readily seen from the drawing, is substantially of the same shape as the fenestration at 17, and is adapted to mate therewith. In the embodiment shown the latch 12, when viewed from the front, as in Figs. 1 and 3, has the appearance of a rectangle with slightly rounded corners. However the corners of the fenestration at 17 are interrupted by shoulders 18, 19, 20, and 21, the frontal surfaces of which are distant from the frontal surface of member 15 by a measure substantially equal to the thickness of latch 12. See Figs. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

As seen in Fig. 8, and also in Figs. and 7, a radial channel 22 extends from the fenestration at 17 to the periphery of member 15; and as seen in Figs. 4, 6, and 7, the neck portion 14 is of reduced thickness with respect to the head 13 of latch 12, the neck portion 14 being adapted to mate with the channel 22, as shown in Fig. 6, when the members of the clasp are in cooperation.

The head 13 of latch 12 may be readily inserted into the fenestration at 17, notwithstanding the shoulders 18, 19, 20, and 21, if the bone is rotated out of plane with bone 11, as shown in Fig. 7. After the head 13 has been inserted through the fenestration bone 10 may be rotated back into plane with bone 11, and the head 13 is socketed within the fenestration at 17 against the shoulders 18, 19, 20, and 21, with the frontal surface of the head flush with the frontal surface of member 15, and with the neck portion 14 mating with the channel 22, the rear surface of the latch 12 being then flush with the rear surface .of member 15.

Accordingly the latch 12 and the member 15 together form a clasp which has no palpably irregular surfaces on the rear thereof, and, to the wearer of the brassiere, feels as if it were a single object having a smooth flat surface.

As may be seen in the drawings, positive locking means for holding the members 12 and 15 together once engaged, is provided. Thus, a thin lip 25 is shown in female member 15, which lip is designed to be engaged by the slight protuberance 26 on the latch member 12 when the members are joined together as described above. This locking expedient is especially effective when the clasp is made of a somewhat resilient plastic material.

I claim:

1. A brassiere having cups adapted to be separably joined together; a yieldable reinforcing element for each cup shaped for inclusion within the respective cups along the inner peripheral edge thereof; and a clasp for said brassiere, said clasp comprising coupling members, one thereof being integral with the reinforcing element of each-cup, said members being releasably engaged with the surfaces of said members directed toward the interior of the brassiere being in a common plane.

2. A clasp as claimed in claim 1 wherein the surfaces of said members obverse to the said surfaces directed toward the interior of the brassiere are also a common plane.

3. In a brassiere having an opening to permit donning and removal of said brassiere, a clasp comprising an eyelet having seat means, a radial keyway, a fenestration nd a lip bordering on said fenestration, and a second member comprising a latch for passing through said fenestration having a protuberance thereon for engaging said lip and a neck, said latch being releasably engageable within said eyelet with said neck mating with said keyway and said protuberance engaging said lip.

4. A brassiere having a frontal opening to permit donning and removal of said brassiere, said brassiere having a clasp made of plastic comprising an eyelet member having shoulders, a radial keyway, a fenestration opening into interior and exterior surfaces on said eyelet member, and a lip at one side of said fenestration provided by an undercut of the exterior surface on said eyelet member, and a latch member for passing through said fenestration, having a neck portion for mating with said keyway, and a head portion having an exterior surface and a protuberance thereon, said protuberance being spaced from the exterior surface of said head portion by at least the thickness of said lip, whereby upon engagement of said eyelet and latch members by rotation of said latch member relative to said eyelet member to seat the head of said latch upon said shoulders and bring the neck portion of said latch member into said keyway, said protuberance may be forced past said resilient lip to releasably lock said eyelet and latch members together.

5. A brassiere as claimed in claim 4 wherein the cups of said brassiere are disposed on either side of said frontal opening and including a yieldable reinforcing element for each of the cups of said brassiere shaped for inclusion within the respective cups along the inner peripheral edge thereof, each of said eyelet member and said latch member being integral with one said reinforcing member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 770,702 Schlichter Sept. 20, 1904 1,087,579 Hain Feb. 17, 1914 1,868,828 Haines July 26, 1932 2,233,071 Bangs Feb. 25, 1941 2,346,887 Winkler Apr. 18, 1944 2,485,571 Cousins Oct. 25, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 985,525 France Mar. 14, 1951 285,883 Switzerland Jan. 16, 1953 

